Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any outright spoilers before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here. Thank you.
Update: Thanks for those that answered my call for help in posting the puzzle this week. While you were trying to figure it out, I was busy trying to navigate the curves of the various ski runs. I found myself face down in the deep snow inhaling ice particles several times. I handled it coolly though and didn't end up falling off any cliffs, so that's good. Now if I could just figure out the key to solving this week's puzzle...
Edit: Curve = Scoliosis, Inhaling particles = Silicosis. Other (shorter) words that work are coolly and cliffs. "Call" and "key" hinted at a telephone key pad
A: Looking at a telephone keypad, 2=ABC, 3=DEF, 4=GHI, 5=JKL, 6=MNO, 7=PRS, 8=TUV, 9=WXY. The first letters in each triad can be used to spell PAJAMA. The second letters in each triad can be used to spell REBUKE. The third letters can be used to spell several words, but for words using 9 letters I found SCOLIOSIS and SILICOSIS.
Here it is: If PAJAMA represents first and REBUKE represents second, what nine-letter word can represent third?
ReplyDeleteThere are two possible answers, one common and one not so common. Either one will be counted correct.
What does any of it even mean? Two six-letter words are first and second(the words themselves make no sense either), and then a NINE-letter word is third? I think this guy Jon Herman had some free time on his hands, and just made up some stupid "challenge" and we're all trying to figure out what is really nothing. How do you even know what to do on this one? I could just as easily say MYRIAD is first, DEPUTY second, then SPEARHEAD is third. It's the same thing, no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever! PLOVER, BOTTLE, AMPERSAND!
DeleteFirst pajama party
DeleteSecond rebuke party
Third party insurance
Methinks MendoPJB may not be completely enamored with this week's offering. Perhaps just a few others as well.
DeleteJOCKEY, TAXING, DISMEMBER!
DeleteFROZEN, QUICHE, BOULEVARD!
PLENTY, BUNGLE, WHITEWASH!
APLOMB, KISMET, PREGNANCY!
ERSATZ, JINXED, BANDICOOT!
TORQUE, DAINTY, GOVERNESS!
Those are just a few other examples of words you could use in this painfully random puzzle. See any you like? I don't particularly care!
I still haven't solved the football anagram puzzle on this week's Puzzleria! I don't need this!
Is ron's comment above giving away the answer?
DeleteSo, does that mean you have the answer, Jan?
DeleteYes, as do quite a few other people here.
Delete(No hints) Just wanted to defend the honor of the puzzlemaker after the cursing of his name, as this has been one of my favorites. I like the construction of it; I like how the example words are what they are (if they weren't, the puzzle couldn't be as elegant!), and especially how the answer is what it is (and not much more...OK, just two options); I like how it's a multiple-step puzzle, that can't be solved brute-force algorithmically or through esoteric knowledge (I pass on the overrepresentation of Very Old TV/movie/music references), but borrows from bits of both.
DeleteA small quibble perhaps on part of the construction but again Google can help assuage those concerns a bit (as in, the first "hit" of the relevant search). Yet, the puzzle itself somehow hadn't been created (or at least easily-searchable) until now.
Bravo, Listener Jon Herman!
If my answers are correct, then this one is fairly EAsy.
ReplyDeleteA nice internal clue in the puzzle itself helps.
ReplyDeleteBoth answers have been mentioned on public TV.
The stories mention underground happenings.
Thanks Rob! Currently, I'm clueless regarding the answer to this one. As usual.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know which is more squirrelly: this puzzle or my answer. If my answer is correct, I actually found four words that would technically work. However, two of the four are so uncommon I’ve never even heard of them. I wouldn’t call either of the remaining words “common,” but at least I’ve heard them. Will sure knows how to pick ‘em.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t submitted yet – still thinking.
I think we're in agreement. You probably look at the squirrely thing on a daily basis but may not use it as often. One of the rare words kind of suggests the situation.
DeleteIf I get this, Can we assume there is a fourth? A fifth?
ReplyDeleteRemember what happens when you assume?
DeleteIs there a such a thing as a "pajama?"
ReplyDeleteWith no clue as to an answer to the challenge, I will very surprised if there are only two nine-letter words which can represent third.
Without Blaine in his tower to delete my post, I have to say "Oh no, not another anagram" just to seek a hint in the way of opprobrium.
I'm SOOOO reminded of a decades-old riddle I heard back in high school: "If a 3-wheeled wagon crashed into a tree, how many pancakes would it take to fill a doghouse? Answer: 16, because bananas don't have teeth!"
ReplyDeleteGo apply for a REAL job! NOW, not next week!
DeleteThis is not a randomly generated puzzle as some would say. I suspect it will seem so to younger generations. All sorts of hints are possible.
ReplyDeleteMusical clue: Artie Shaw
How did Artie Shaw fit in? Clarinets and Saxophone don't work. Swing band is two words. Lana Turner his wife) is two words and too long. Artie Shaw doesn't work, even as two words. "Moonglow," "Begin the Beguine,", "Stardust, "Deep Purple," and "Comes Love," (his big hits) don't fit either. I lost a lot of time on this one.
DeleteOK, Shaw's first band was the Gramercy 5, named after his telephone exchange, and he had an affair with Judy Garland, who had scoliosis. That's really stretching it for a clue.
Delete... And stretching it is a terrible way to deal with scoliosis ;-)
DeleteMy back hurts from the heavy lifting on this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThanks SDB! Enamoured has nine letters.
ReplyDeleteI had about decided, with others here, that this challenge might be a little goofy.
Is anyone as baffled by this one as me? I suspect the words might refer to a list starting with the letters, but have no idea what list.
ReplyDelete@Curtis - It's not news when I have no idea what's going on, but since you ask: I had a great idea that worked perfectly for the first word, but failed for the second. Then a second thought, seemed a bit less likely, but worked for both the first and second. Unfortunately, also left me unable to work out the third, using my best printed resource (I haven't been able to think what online resource might help.) Np clues here, because I am totally lost!
DeleteWould anybody agree that the R in REBUKE ia an error?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWard, please delete your comment. I think that crossed over the line.
DeleteAnd I thought it was a dead end. Well back to work.
DeleteI am old enough to know better. R in REBUKE is correct!
DeleteUnfortunately, blog administration only happens as an afterthought. After being beaten over the head with multiple blatant clues, I have refined my second thought above into a correct, I assume, and final iteration, and now, with the help of my aforementioned printed resource, have an answer which works. I wish I could say that I can now take a deep breath and sit back and relax, but somehow I can't.
DeleteYou are correct, Tony Cwm, us old folks know the R is quite correct.
DeleteI initially thought it had to do with syllables (pajama has three, rebuke has two), but there are far more than two nine-letter words that are one syllable (strengths, screeched, stretched, schlepped, scrunched, scrounged, etc.)
ReplyDeleteDamnit.
I, too, am making little headway, and I am pretty much resolved to having this one best me. I am curious, though, to see when Thursday comes and I see the answer here whether a) I think I was stupid for not get the answer to a clever puzzle or b) I was stupid for trying hard on a stupid puzzle. Either way, it doesn't look good for me. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteI finally submitted my answer. I don’t really like it but it’s the only one I have. I will say this, if what I sent in is really the answer, this puzzle is not so hot.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThat may only help those of you who also have the same calendar, but at least that's something.
DeleteI'm still not sure about this. Are there other word that can represent first and second?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteIt gave the answer away to me.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt led me to the answer, but wasn't quite a give-away. I'm not liking the 2nd representation much, to be honest. --Margaret G.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt is a remarkable coincidence.
Delete@Al: magma burns --Margaret G.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI thought perhaps that B. Euker (Bob Euker) played second base… Until I found out that he was a catcher and it's spelled "Eucker."
ReplyDeleteActually, it's spelled Uecker.
DeletePajama may now be first and Rebuke second, but it was the baseball managers Bud Abbott and Lou Costello who proved "I Don't Know" was on third!
DeleteI wonder if the PM is thinking: "Hah! I've stumped all those prima donnas at Blaine's World."
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps: "Whoops."
A big day in New Hampshire.
ReplyDeleteWhere would these guys fit in?
Each of my careers should have led me to the answer faster!
ReplyDelete1RD
ReplyDelete1RD
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBased on the entry removals, I'm guessing it's been tough for folks to adhere to the party line this week.
ReplyDeleteThis puzzle is so silly!
ReplyDeleteBERNIE! BERNIE! BERNIE!
ReplyDeleteHe's got grit.
DeleteThat's True!
DeleteI'm just fearing the country is going to get Trumped. And, it's not going to be pretty.
DeleteAnd you are saying that is not what's been happening all along? Wake up America.
DeleteHippie Hillary vs. Swede Sanders? Now there's a Puzzle.
DeleteI found it! It's somewhere on this page:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.becomeawordgameexpert.com/wordlists9.htm
I really don't have time for what that website entails, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI had to bend over backwards to get this, but I did.
ReplyDeleteSideways.
DeleteYeah, it was a kick in the backside.
DeleteI got it now! Thanks for all your help. Now I can catch some zzzz's.
ReplyDeleteNo ZZZZ's,
Deletehttp://www.cafepress.co.uk/+rebuke+pajamas
ReplyDeleteSo:
Under clothing,
Pajama -> Rebuke -> CafePress
SCOLIOSIS or SILICOSIS can represent third. PAJAMA, REBUKE, and these two words are spelled using the first, second, or third letters on the keys of a telephone keypad (or dial), respectively.
ReplyDelete> Each of my careers should have led me to the answer faster!
I use to work at Bell (Telephone) Labs. Now I'm in health care.
SCOLIOSIS or SILICOSIS
ReplyDeleteAll the letters in these two answer words are from third placed letters on the individual keys of a standard telephone keypad.
(The Car Talk guys should be proud of me for getting two thirds!)
My Hint:
“This puzzle is so silly!’ The last three words are made up of qualifying letters in the puzzle.
I tried a Google search of PAJAMA REBUKE and got a news story about a judge who had people show up in his courtroom in pajamas and issued a rebuke, but no one was sentenced. So I had to abandon that line of attack. I also think this one was more difficult for those of us, such as moi, who never send text messages.
So, as the chiropractor said after finishing his lunch, “Back to work!”
Imagine the rebuke if they'd shown up in court without their pajamas!
DeleteWell they wouldn't have a problem getting through the security check point. Not to mention that they would get to the naked truth rather quickly.
DeleteThat rebuke is found at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/top-navy-admiral-fired-wandering-hotel-drunk-naked-article-1.2458173
DeleteI must confess I had no clue on this, but I've never sent a text message in my life, and never owned a cell phone.
Water ya gonna do with a drunken sailor?
DeleteConsider the touch pad layout on a touch-tone phone. Pajama is a word that can be made using only the first-listed letters on each numeric key. Rebuke is a word that can be made using only the second-listed letters on each numeric key. If we’re considering the older style touch pad layout (with no Q or Z), I found four 9-letter words that can be made using only the third-listed letters on each numeric key: isocyclic, locofocos, scoliosis and silicosis. If we’re considering the newer style touch pad layout (including Q and Z), I found only one 9-letter word that can be made using only the third-listed letters on each numeric key: colorific. All five of these words are real words according to Merriam-Webster.
ReplyDeleteI do not know why Will Shortz said there were only two words that were possible answers. In the first case there are four. In the second case only one.
I did not submit any of this to NPR. I’m sure that my answer, though a technically correct answer, was not the intended answer.
@Chuck - I'd bet that Mr. Shortz simply missed ISOCYCLIC and LOCOFOCOS. But COLORIFIC can't work if REBUKE is the representative of second-listed letters: The "R" can only be in one list.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteChuck,
DeleteYes, it fits with COLORIFIC, but it does not fit with rEBUKE. You can't have it both ways.
SDB and Bob -
DeleteYou two are so right!
And that means that this puzzle simply does not work for those using the newer style touch pads that include Q and Z.
DeleteChuck,
DeleteI see your point, but don't quite agree. The puzzle, as stated, works exactly the same for everyone regardless of which type of phone you use most often. It is up to each of us to figure it all out since nothing was stated about using any keypad to solve it. I will also say though, that I think the puzzle was not stated as well as it could have been, but that is not saying all that much with some of the other gaffs WS has made in the past, such as the time he said a word had to be divided at the syllable points, but one of the breaks was not at the syllable point.
Having been handed the answer, or at least the critical idea of using the older telephone listing (I looked at the letters on a rotary dial phone), I posted, "I wish I could say that I can now take a deep breath and sit back and relax, but somehow I can't," because, SILICOSIS and SCOLIOSIS.
ReplyDeleteUsing the deleted clue about the Mensa Page-a-Day calendar, I went over to the local Barnes & Noble to see if they had that calendar, preferably on deep discount this far into February. It was on sale, but I didn't need to buy it, since the page in question was featured on the back of the box.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have gotten this on my phones as all have pqrs. I got spaghetti: nine letter, three vowel word ending in "i", third in sequence of three vowel words ending in vowel sequence a, e, i !
ReplyDeleteOh, well. What's for dinner?
Beef! It's what's for dinner.
DeleteI started out on the wrong track, coming up with a list of valid 3-letter English words in which the first letter was one of P, A, J, or M, and the second letter was one of R, E, B, U. or K, and then trying to find a 9-letter word made up of the third letters of those words. The resulting list was too long, but could have included WordWoman.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone not agree that it was remarkable that this puzzle appeared on the same date as that Mensa calendar page that gave it away?
It is mind-boggling.
DeleteAnd I doubt I would have twigged to the answer if I'd had that calendar on my desk. Good catch, Claire Natola!
DeleteI wonder if Will has that Mensa calendar. . .
DeleteI sent in a comment about it, in case he wasn't lurking this week.
DeleteI have to congratulate those who got this.
ReplyDeleteWith a granddaughter in college these last few years, I have learned to text, so that's no excuse.
The use of the terms "represents first" and "represents second" was a stumbling block for me and I am not real comfortable with it now.
It is too late to figure out if clearer terms would have made it less misleading.
Score PM 1 and unhappy MJ 0.
I would never have thought to look at a telephone key pad. How arbitrary! One of the worst puzzles Will has presented, in my opinion. ---Rob
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteHave you turned your digital clock right side up yet?
LOL! That one is in the same category.
DeleteFirst word PAJAMA uses only the first letters on the phone key pad (original style with no Q or Z); second word REBUKE uses only the second letters on the phone pad; SILICICLY uses only the third letters
ReplyDeleteMerriam-Webster doesn't like SILICICLY (describing rocks which are rich in silica as in granite or rhyolite) but I have seen it in several geologic journals, it just looks cool, and it inspired this post on Vedauwoo and the Sherman Granite.
1RD is short for one ringy-dingy as phone operator Ernestine, played by Lily Tomlin, used to say.
DeleteSeveral years ago, I sent a message to Will Shortz.
ReplyDeleteWhy are these words connected.
PAJAMA. QUEEN. FROLIC
That might have been a better way of presenting the same puzzle. Or perhaps it could be stated: How is it these words can represent first, second and third respectively?
DeleteAnd we could have added a 4th!
DeleteZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZS
My hat is off to the Blainiacs, and others, who solve this puzzle. I looked at telephone keypads, but only saw 26 letter versions, and didn't look at older 24 letter ones, so I missed the pattern. I even tried to do something with the numbers 725262 and 732852, but that got me nowhere.
ReplyDeleteStumped me! But then again, as Legolambda will vouch, I have been hard at work trying to get another of my puzzles ready for this week's Puzzleria! Good luck to those of you from this blog who, like me, also frequent that blog!
ReplyDeleteJust wondering how much of a giveaway those deleted texts actually were?
ReplyDeleteThis is the image of the Mensa calendar that gave it away for me. I thought it complied with the ground rules, sort of.
DeleteThe only comment that I thought went too far was Ward's: "Is it coincidence that PAJAMA cam be spelled using just the first letters on a phone keypad?"
Once I saw the calendar, it was a total giveaway.
DeleteThat is pushing it. I sometimes have the answer but am afraid to post a hint because I worry it might be going a little too far!
ReplyDeleteThat Mensa calendar would have been great to have around! This puzzle had me beat, congratulations on everyone who figured it out!!
FOSSIL and OSSIFY are two six-letter words that work. Know that's not what Will is asking for, but interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteFor 10 letters, there is SOLVOLYSIS.
ReplyDeleteOk! We're past the deadline! someone tell me, please! I'm dying!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBravo to those who got this, it was driving me crazy. I even thought to look at the keypad but the letters/numbers seemed to be randomly distributed. I don't text so the position of each letter in its number list meant nothing to me.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like to receive comments by email as soon as they're posted (evading later censorship), check the "Notify me" box at the bottom of the page, just below the box where you enter comments.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, I attended a college where you could dial any dorm room using just its 4-digit extension. One night, we had nothing better to do than call people whose numbers "spelled" choice 4-letter words to inform them of this fact. I was amused to discover that the end of my parents' home number was one of these (which I hadn't realized previously), so we called them, too.
ReplyDeleteAnybody remember when there were no dials, numbers were short (3 digits), or strange, 39F5, (rural party line with magneto phone). In town, picking up the handset got you to Ernestine. In the country you had to crank the magneto.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this puzzle.
hugh, I, too, enjoyed this puzzle for the meeting of the old and new on phone dials and keypads.
DeleteMy mom was an "Ernestine" switchboard operator in MA during summers of high school. She said it was one of the most complex jobs she ever did (including during her career as a physical therapist and working with kids with polio).
She still remembers all the exchanges on the big phone board.
I am so grateful I didn't spend too much time on this weeks puzzle. Congratulations to those few of you who figured it out! I think the number is going to be low - like less than 200 correct entries.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Jon Herman's puzzle this week also. Good job, Jon and Will.
ReplyDeleteIndeed I enjoyed it so much that it inspired me to create seven (!) "piggyback" puzzles over on my Puzzleria! blog with a similar "first-second-third" theme. (I call them "piggyback" puzzles because to create them one must "climb upon the shoulders" of puzzle-creation giants.) I invite all to drop by and have a little February 14th (and 1st, 2nd and 3rd) fun.
But the best reason for visiting our Valentine's edition of Puzzleria! is a wonderfully inventive classic rock puzzle, titled "Valentine Ear Candy," which was created by patjberry, a frequent contributor to Blaine's blog (see his Thu Feb 11, 02:01:00 PM PST comment).
(Jon Herman, I am curious about the comment you posted early this morning, and later removed. I did not have a chance to read it. Did you give insight into your creation of this week's puzzle?)
LegoBelievesMr.HermanIsAMasterOfEnigmaAndMystery...EvenWithHisBlogPosts!
Hi, I'm pleased to see that my puzzle idea has gotten so much attention, and am enjoying my fifteen minutes of fame. No big mystery about the deleted post -- I noticed that it contained a grammmatical error, and I didn't want everyone thinking I'm illiterate.
DeleteThe idea for the puzzle came when i was texting on my old-school flip-phone, and realized that I only had to hit each number once for the city "Tampa." I then wondered if there were any obvious American cities where I'd have to hit each key the maximum number of times, and came up with "Clovis" (New Mexico). I sent that idea to Will, which he then recast in a slightly different way.
Did he improve on my original idea? I don't know. I thought it would be fun to take two related objects (cities, in this case) and see if listeners could figure out how they are "opposites." But Will definitely did something interesting with it, and I was glad to have him use it.
Thanks, Jon. I like your original cities idea, but Will's adaptation was also solid. Great insight into the puzzle-making mind.
DeleteLegoHexQueenHub
Thanks, Jon, cool puzzle. Funny, I use a similar phone and every once in awhile notice a word that requires several "3-clicks" -- and sometimes try to think of a synonym instead!
DeleteOne thing that was cool about Will's re-casting is that the word "PAJAMA" sort of has an implicit clue -- why isn't it plural? And, it's interesting that the 2 answers were both fairly long words as well as unique. I do think Will should have suggested "REBUKER" as well, and then the puzzle would have been the 3 longest possible words, as well as invoking the curiosity about the oddity of the word.
Anyway, congrats on getting your puzzle on-air! Surely an honour.
Thanks to Jon Herman for clearing up how a good idea got ruined.
ReplyDeleteI should have realized that the clumsy, misleading phrasing ("represents first...") came from upside-down-calculator brain of the self-proclaimed Puzzlemaster.
I will very surprised if NPR announces as many as 50 correct submissions and very doubtful of any number over that.
I do miss the weekly how-many-correct-submissions-will-there-be contest that Magdalen ran over at An Englishman Solves American Puzzles. Perhaps we should resurrect something like that here?
DeleteI'm not familiar with how the guessing of the number of submissions worked there. Let me know how you pick a range and determine the correct submissions the next week.
DeleteBlaine:
DeleteYou can get all that information here:
http://www.crosswordmanblog.com/
Mendo Jim - I too found the use of the word "represents" a major stumbling block. GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE could represent first, second and third, as could PAPER, COTTON and LEATHER. PAJAMA, REBUKE and SCOLIOSIS do not "represent" anything. I prefer my word-play puzzles to be more carefully worded.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Lorenzo. See the fifth of my “Ripping Off Herman And Shortz Slice” puzzles on this week’s Puzzleria!
DeleteMendo Jim, I miss your insightful and inciteful comments on the no-longer-operating Englisman's blog. Glad to see you commenting here.
jan, I like your idea of resurrecting the late great AESAP’s “pick-a-range” over on Blaine’s blog, if it is okay with Blaine, of course. I would do it over on Puzzleria!, but I don’t get as much traffic and comments as this fine blog does.
LegoOrMaybeWeCouldDoIt”PriceIsRight”Style…ClosestWithoutGoingOver
Blaine: What was called "Picking a Range" was explained each week (except the last) at the link Jan provides.
ReplyDeleteDid you never visit "An Englishman Solves American Puzzles?"
Blaine: You can look at the website and see the rules. It is still there. I like Mendo Jim's idea.
ReplyDeleteMy keypad does not look like the picture above. I never could have gotten this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteGOOD NEWS!
ReplyDeleteSupreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died at 79
I may miss out on the puzzle tomorrow, as I will most likely still be celebrating.
May he long be remembered for this, perhaps his most compassionate, quote:
Delete"Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."
Of course we are now left with the big question of who will be left (I, of course, mean Right) to pull the strings which control Uncle Thomas, the other sub-human puppet of the evil plutocrats and oligarchs who control the court. God help us all. This is now Obama's chance to prove he actually has a pair. Don't bet on it.
DeleteSDB, Scalia never said the quote that you attributed to him. It's just one of the common lies that bounces around inside left wing echo chambers. If you read the decision that the "quote" is supposedly from (HERRERA v. COLLINS, (1993)), you'll see that there is no such quote. Here's a link to the decision:
Deletehttp://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/506/390.html
I guess this will be the second time that next week's puzzle is transcribed by listening to the WNYC online feed, rather than simply copying and pasting it from the puzzle site.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I got:
DeleteName something to eat; change one letter and rearrange to get the person who prepares it.
Something like that.
btw, I got MIXED MEDIA and EDGAR DEGAS before Joe did!
Only 32 correct entries last week.
ReplyDeleteFor next week, as remembered: Name something to eat. Change one letter, and rearrange the result to name the person who makes it.
I guess the NPR webmaster has taken to sleeping in....
DeleteI won't be losing any prime sleeping time over this one, either!
DeleteNext week's challenge: Name something to eat, change one letter in it and rearrange the result, and you'll name the person who makes this thing.
ReplyDeleteI've said this many times about past puzzles and I'm saying this again about this week's puzzle.
DeleteThere are some folks out there who will solve this one in two seconds... - and still be angry at themselves for not having solved it in LESS THAN ONE SECOND!!!
Only 32 and I STILL didn't get a call! Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI got up this morning with a horrible head cold that has been bothering me for almost a week . Good thing for DayQuil.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFrom: "npr_response@npr.org"
Date: April 19, 2011 1:31:42 PM CDT
To: Reg
Subject: Re: Puzzle for Will Shortz – Message ID:284938
Response to Message #284938:
Dear Reginald,
Thank you for contacting NPR.
Your submission will be taken into consideration. Should we have any questions, or require additional information, we will contact you.
Please note that all entries become the property of Will Shortz and National Public Radio, and will not be returned. Each contest entrant consents to the use of his or her name, voice, statements, and puzzle answers, or any portion thereof, in connection with the puzzle, over the air and in any and all media and manner, now or hereafter known, in perpetuity without compensation. NPR is not responsible for any damages or losses relating to the puzzle or acceptance/use of any prize.
We appreciate your ideas.
Thank you for listening, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit npr.org.
Sincerely,
Andrea
NPR Services
202-513-3232
www.npr.org
_________________________________________________
Original Message: I have a word puzzle for Will Shortz. I would like him to be the first to solve it. However, I am going to give you the answer first, hoping that he will only see the question!
On the telephone pad, there are three or four letters per number.
A word like FROLIC requires 3 taps. There are other shorter words, one is IVY!
Similarly, QUEEN and HEX need two taps.
PAJAMA and JAW need one tap.
In other words, if I asked what is the connection between FROLIC, QUEEN and PAJAMA, the answer is at everybody's finger tips but no one has been able to solve it.
Somebody will eventually realize that FROLIC's alphabet positions are 6 18 15 12 9 3. Half way to solve it, perhaps?
Thanks, Reginald
To reply to this e-mail, please click on the link below. Thank you.
http://help.npr.org/npr/consumer/clarify.asp?incidentID=%7Ba6bbaba9-9afe-4571-936a-030786c7ac51%7D